The Simspons & Carmen = Lesson Plan

"The Bohemian life": opera and gifted education - In the Classroom (Gifted Child Today Magazine)

The Simpsons wickedly lampoons operatic excerpts, and the grand march from Verdi's Aida, as well as a number of melodic moments from Bizet's Carmen also frequently appear in various forms of popular entertainment. Upon hearing these excerpts, the students reacted, "That's from an opera?" Then, in addition to providing a setting for such aesthetic epiphanies, Sprague assigned students to list three times they heard opera while watching several days of television--every student responded with examples, such as deBeers advertisements and references to programs, such as Everybody Loves Raymond. Indeed, opera is almost omnipresent! A general air of student receptivity to the project was established, facilitated by playing popular operatic excerpts and identifying for the students what in fact they had been hearing, as well as reinforcing this awareness by having students recognize on their own how frequently they were in the presence of operatic music.